During the process of drilling and completing a well it is necessary to run or pull the pipe into or out of the wellbore, in a processes commonly called “tripping”, where it is necessary to connect and disconnect the uppermost adjacent pieces of tubular many times. These adjacent pieces can consist of one or more individual pieces or joints of the complete tubular string. Because of problems associated with the drilling of a well it is often necessary to capture fluid from the upper end of the tubular or circulate fluid through the tubular while tripping. To capture or circulate fluid it is necessary to connect a device commonly known as a fill up and circulating tool to the upper end of the uppermost tubular. When using a top drive rig it is common to connect the top drive directly to the upper tubular by threading the top drive into the tubular. Recently it has become common to use the device illustrated in PCT/US99/22051 when attached to the top drive.
In some cases and when using a conventional “rotary rig” devices such as those illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,997,042; 5,191,939; 5,735,348 and others are used. These devices have substantial limitations in that they cannot be used with all tubulars commonly used in the drilling and completion of a well and they cannot easily be placed in an “out of the way” position and must be removed when it is necessary to drill.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,722,425, particularly FIG. 9A, which patent is fully incorporated herein as though actually set forth, several fill up and circulating devices are illustrated which require a handling device to assist in positioning them in sealing and coupling contact with the tubular connection and to allow sealing and coupling to the upper end of the uppermost tubular. In this application several methods for handling these devices were disclosed. One such technique for accommodating the need to get the equipment out of the way to facilitate drilling was to put the fill-up and circulating tool on swing mounts from both opposed bails and to somehow swing the fill-up and circulating tool out from between the bails to get it out of the way from the tubing in the elevator. This design involved a need for considerable clearance space to make a large arc for the swing motion and a fairly unwieldy method of hoisting and lowering the fill-up and circulating tool throughout its arcuate range of motion. Additionally, the fill-up and circulating tool had to be held in the out of the way position by cable and presented a risk of falling back down toward the tubular if the support cable failed for any reason.
Current fill-up and circulating devices illustrated in the 042', 939' and 348' patents are connected to the tubular connection of the top drive or attached to the hook of a conventional hoisting system of a rotary rig. In order to drill these devices must be removed so that the tubular can be connected to the top drive or the tubular is connected to a Kelly which is connected to the hook of a rotary rig.
Therefore, in addition to handling the fill up and circulating devices to position them at the tubular for coupling and sealing to the tubular, it is also desirable to have the handling device move the fill up and circulating device to an “out of the way” position when not sealed or coupled to the tubular. “Out of the way” meaning that the position of the handling device and any device attached to it or not in the way or inhibit the processes of rig operation and specifically the handling or tripping of the tubulars or the drilling process.
One such design is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,632 where a bail supported actuation system for a fill up and circulating tool is illustrated that allows the tool to be raised and lowered and rotated toward the end of the lowering movement so that alignment with the string being run in can be obtained. FIGS. 1-6 of the present application describe the operation of this prior art tool in conjunction with the following detailed description.
Referring to FIG. 1 the open side of the elevator 10 is shown supported from bails 12 and 14. The apparatus A is connected to bail 12 but could as easily be supported from the other bail 14. As best seen in FIG. 3 a frame 16 is secured to bail 12 by U-bolts 18 and 20 which extend, respectively, through clasps 22 and 24 and are secured, respectively by nuts 26 and 28. Clasps 22 and 24 are generally U-shaped and can have internal serrations where they contact the bail 12 for additional resistance to rotation of the frame 16 with respect to bail 12. Other techniques to rotationally lock the frame 16 to the bail 12 can also be employed, such as a splined connection or additional support for frame 16 from the other bail 14. On new construction, as opposed to a retrofit, the frame 16 can be made integrally with one of the bails, such as 12.
Referring to FIG. 2, an inlet pipe 30 is connected to the rig pumping and storage system to allow for flow to and from the apparatus A when sealingly connected to a tubular 32.
Referring to FIG. 3, inlet pipe 30 has a U-bend 34, which is in turn connected to the top of the fill-up and circulating tool 36. Inlet pipe 30 extends through sleeve 38. Sleeve 38 is clamped for pivotal movement about pin 40 by a clamp 42. Pin 40 extends into bracket 52, which is supported by frame 16. Sleeve 38 has an elongated slot 44, the upper portion 46 being inclined with respect to longitudinal portion 48, which is oriented generally parallel to bail 12. Inlet pipe 30 has a pin 50 which rides in slot 44. Bracket 54 is supported by frame 16 for up and down slidable movement. Link 56 is pivotally mounted at pin 58 as best seen in FIG. 4, to bracket 54. Link 56 surrounds inlet pipe 30 in a manner that permits relative rotation between them. Link 56 is mounted between flanges 60 and 62 on inlet pipe 30. Up and down movement of bracket 54 is preferably accomplished by hydraulic cylinder 64 which can selectively be used to extend or retract rod 66. Rod 66 is secured to bracket 54 by nut 68. Hydraulic cylinder 64 can be replaced by any other device which will raise and lower bracket 54.
Connected to inlet pipe 30 is a yoke 70 to which is connected link 72 at pin 74. Pin 76 connects the other end of link 72 to bracket 54.
The components now having been described, the operation of the device will now be reviewed. The intended movement of the fill-up and circulating tool 36 is intended to be from a retracted position, shown in FIG. 4 to a connected position shown in FIG. 5. Clamp 42 allows rotation of sleeve 38 as installed and link 72 has an adjustable length to define the proper length, as installed, for smooth movement of the assembly and final positioning of the fill-up and circulating tool 36 in alignment with the tubular 32. Referring to FIG. 3, the fill-up and circulating tool is in the out of the way position with rod 66 fully extended and pin 50 in the upper end 46 of slot 44. When the hydraulic cylinder 64 is actuated to move rod 66 downwardly the inlet pipe 30 moves down. The pin 50 is forced against the inclined surface 76 of the upper end 46 of slot 44. This contact induces opposed rotational motion between the inlet pipe 30 and the sleeve 38 as long as pin 50 exerts downward pressure on inclined surface 76. Sleeve 38 rotates about pin 40, while at the same time link 56 rotates about pin 58. As a result, the movement of the fill-up and circulating tool is along a near straight line into the position in FIG. 5. The inlet pipe rotates counter clockwise looking down, as seen by comparing FIG. 4 to FIG. 5. Links 42 and 56 rotate clock-wise looking down in the same Figures. The rotational movement ceases when the pin 50 enters the lower end 48 of the slot 44. This position, corresponds to an alignment of the fill-up and circulating tool with the tubular 32. Link 72 is a torque link that resists the torque created by the pin 50 moving on inclined surface 76 and, in turn creates the rotation of links 42 and 56 respectively about pins 40 and 58.
One issue with this design is that the length of the bails on different rigs is variable and some rigs the bails were sufficiently short that raising the tool to the out of alignment position with the string 32 caused the u-bend in the piping system to hit the top drive TD making the tool unusable on some rigs with shorter bails. One fix to this problem is to change the bails out to a longer length. This allows the tool enough room to swing out of the way but can also create additional problems. All drilling rigs have a defined height. When the bails are changed out for a longer version, the elevators are now lower than normal. The rig now needs to raise the top drive higher to accomplish the same height level of the elevators. In some rigs they are already using all the available travel of the top drive so changing to a longer bail length is not possible. Another issue with using longer bails when drilling is that upon approaching the rig floor, the elevators are now lower than originally intended. The drilling process has to be stopped sooner so that the lower extending elevators do not hit the rig floor. The connection for the last stand of pipe is now higher than usual and the tool joint connection maybe higher than desired. The third issue with changing out to a longer bail is time. Many top drives now have many clamps and arms that are attached to the bails. The time it takes to change bails on some offshore rigs cancels out the time savings provided with the tool. One of the objects of the present invention is to be able to provide a compact design that avoids such obstructions in situations with shorter bails. One way this is accomplished is to integrate a power piston with the flow line such that space is saved by running the mud line through a hollow piston. Another space saving feature integrates the rotational mechanism for the fill up and circulation tool about the piston and mud line going through the piston as they move in tandem. Lateral connection of the mud line eliminates a large u-bend previously employed to reduce the needed operating height for the tool between its end positions. The overall height of the articulating arm that swings into alignment with the fill up tool has been reduced to less than 50% of the overall tool length. These and other aspects of the present invention will be more readily appreciated by those skilled in the art from a review of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be determined from the appended claims.